[quote=sdrealtor]I believe it was you who said no one is forced to buy anything. They have choices. You basically agreed with what isaid about them lobbying to impact public policy while adding a dose of vitriol. I’m still waiting for my NAR paycheck, benefits and pension plan. I’m also waiting to hear what public unions do for anyone other than their members.[/quote]

No, I never said that no one is forced to buy anything. To the contrary, I’ve said that we often don’t have a choice, without extreme hardship or inconvenience, whether one buys from the private market or the public market.

Unions lobby on behalf of union members (though they represent the interests of union members/employees, unions are not public employees), and never claimed to do anything else. The NAR and all other associations, etc. represent their members’ interests in just the same way. Many public employees get decent benefits (which used to be found in the private sector, too…before the private sector sheeple bought into the lies that “unions are bad” and “globalization is good”), and realtors make $10K for work that is worth $800, tops. The form of compensation doesn’t matter at all; the bottom line is that all of these organizations are looking out for the interests of their (usually paying) members. In every case, it’s about getting more money/compensation for their members via regulations, subsidies, government financing/guarantees, tax breaks, etc. You can’t single out any one type of organization because these donors/contributors are ALL “guilty” of the same things, and consumers/taxpayers are paying the price for ALL of them.

If you’re arguing that we need to get money out of politics, I’m with you 100%, but only if ***ALL*** money/bribery is banned. We need a level playing field in order to prevent a total takeover of our entire society and economy; it’s all about checks and balances. If capital has a seat at the table, then labor has to have a seat at the table as well.